PalmsNorth.com

wxman

All I gotta say is wow!! And we are neighbors. I live just north of you in Saukville, WI. That palm and those other tropicals look great! Here is how my yard looked in its prime this past summer. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y255/wxman81/733e08b8.jpg http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y255/wxman81...

wxman

I have a couple of test subjects in the yard this year. A waggie and a magnolia grandiflora '24 below'. Both were planted this spring. All they got for protection was a poly box and 100 mini Christmas lights. The lights only warm the space an extra 5 degrees over ambient. The lights are on a 35/45 T...

wxman

Wow, everything looks great!

Do you know if there's anywhere in the Chicago area I can get a Brackens Brown Beauty or Edith Bogue that size?

I live up by Milwaukee and would make a day trip south to buy a nice specimen.

Thanks,

wxman

Looks great! I'm going to try some needles this spring.

wxman

Wow!! Trachys truly are the hardy palm!

wxman

Wow dude... what kind of temps you see in there? Im assuming you got warm the other day, and then it went cold as hell? Did the temps stay stable in the greenhouse? The temps range from 50 to about 85. I have electric heaters set at 50F to keep that as a minimum. My wood stove or the sunlight does ...

wxman

Here's the additions. Looking into the greenhouse. You can see the shelves. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y255/wxman81/IMG_4703_zps1bf4c8f7.jpg 4500 windmill palm seeds up on the shelf. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y255/wxman81/IMG_4704_zpsb509db52.jpg Exhaust fan. http://i7.photobucket.com/a...

wxman

Phase 2 of the greenhouse is now complete. I installed shelves 7' off the ground between the poles. This allows me to germinate seeds and put small plants up there and still be able to easily walk underneath. Got to make use off ALL space, right? Also installed a motorized intake shutter and exhaust...

wxman

Wow, looks good. A little late to finish protection, lol!

wxman

Anyone here try to grow things in the winter with greenhouses? I separated my banana pups in October and put them in my greenhouse to hopefully get a head start for the spring. Well, the leaves have died off one by one and I can't get any new growth. I'm keeping the greenhouse 70-80 during the day a...

wxman

Citrus are extremely easy to germinate from seed. I pulled some seeds out of a few store bought lemons. Soaked them for 48 hours and then planted them in moist potting soil. Germination occurred in about 3 weeks with room temperature and window light conditions. Here is a picture of one of the seedl...

wxman

Looks good, I like your protection! Question ... how do you fasten the styrofoam panels to each other? Glue? Looks like a quick, simple protection method that I may want to try on some stuff.

Thanks!

wxman

Hey all sorry for the late reply. I thought about a rocket stove, but the barrel stove just seemed to fit better with my greenhouse.

As for germinating windmill palm seeds, I place them in a tupperware bin, place a small amount of soil on top and just keep them moist at room temperature.

wxman

lucky1 wrote: Just think of all the time we'd have on our hands if it NEVER went below freezing.
We can dream.

Barb

Then I'd probably try something stupid like growing blue spruce!

wxman

Barb, it's in the upper 50s here at 11 pm. Never seen it like this in early December. This year has been crazy from the start. Mid 80s in March with blooming trees by the middle of the month, 100s this summer with drought and now first three days of December will be near or above 60 degrees.

wxman

I'm getting some of Jim's zombie weather up here now too. It's 56 degrees at 11 pm on December 1st. Normal high is 36 or so. Tomorrow is supposed to be 63 and Monday 65.

And....we had a line of thunderstorms go through earlier this evening, lol.

Palms love this!

wxman

Wrong :lol: both are impressive now. I just use bungee cords on the big Trachy. Zip ties can cut into the petioles. Always sad to see them go into their boxes, though. Barb These are the fat zip ties for connecting flexible duct to hard duct. They have scratched the petioles a bit, but the trachy d...

wxman

I put my trachys in their boxes last weekend. Here is how I tie up the fronds for the winter. I use those big zip ties you can buy at Home Depot -- work my way from the top of the crown down -- about 4-5 fronds at a time. My buddy Steve in the picture for scale. He is about 6'2". I'll post pict...

wxman

Thanks for the comments. The palms and magnolia are now boxed for the winter. The waggie and magnolia just got a poly box with a 35/45 thermocube that runs x-mas lights. The other two trachys got their usual poly box covered in foam with a space heater inside set to 40F. Barb, the X-mas palm is insi...

wxman

I'm closing up my windmill palms Sunday for the winter, so I thought I'd post a few final pictures of the season. Overall a great growing season here with above normal temperatures most months. This trachy has been in the ground since 2008. Wife and daughter for scale. http://i7.photobucket.com/albu...

wxman

You'll love Christmas palms. They seem to want to start dividing their leaves and trunking young! Keep them warm and happy!

wxman

hardyjim wrote:Does your downspout fly around because it rains so hard there

Nope, and I'm amazed I never have issues with root rot. That spout drains that entire side of the roof. It drips for about 2 weeks straight every spring when the snow melts off!

wxman

Looks good. Mine are still out playing in the breeze. Have been uncovered since Feb 28th. Might make it to December looking at the weather models! ;) http://palmsnorth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4211 LOL. I took the fronts off 2/28. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y255/wxman81/cd8f4c8f.jpg

wxman

Looks good. Mine are still out playing in the breeze. Have been uncovered since Feb 28th. Might make it to December looking at the weather models!

wxman

Agreed. Washingtonias hate cold / frozen roots. It will suffer / die if the roots get affected.

Windmill palms are much more tolerant of frozen roots.

wxman

Now that we've reached the end of the growing season, I want to show how well my windmill palms have grown since last year. I'll show two pictures of each. One from last year and one from this year. This year's pictures have my daughter in for scale -- she's 43 inches tall. First trachy - November 2...

wxman

Wow those divide quick! How fast do standard fortunei divide? I have 300 seedling trachys right now on their 3rd or 4th leaf and still are strap.

wxman

Wow! Your trachy is getting impressive. I had to add 3 feet on to my largest trachy box this fall. My trachy is almost to the top of my roof. Can't believe we're talking about protection already. I hope I won't have to protect mine until Thanksgiving weekend here. Still hitting the 40s/50s during th...

wxman

Barb, Forgot to answer your question. Yes, the bottom pipe is the air intake. I have a valve on it that I can control how fast the wood burns and thus how much heat is put out...kind of like a manual stone age thermostat of some sort. LOL. I also have a remote thermostat in there that uploads the te...

wxman

Thanks guys. Tim, Today it was 55F outside for a high and my greenhouse hit 82F with a dewpoint of 70F. At night it has been staying almost 10F warmer in there than outside. Soon I will fire the wood stove up for the winter and it won't fall below 50F at night. I've been busy. Picked this load of wo...

wxman

Anyone who has been following my greenhouse progress -- it's done! Started it in early August and just finished it last week. Here are some pics. The front. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y255/wxman81/IMG_4559_zpsfff889e1.jpg Right side -- wood stove pipe in back. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/...

wxman

Where are you Tim and whats going on in your yard? I noticed you guys had a 32F one night,everything o.k.? Hey Jim, everything is fine. I recorded 32.9 last week one morning, heavy frost on rooftops, but no damage to my plants. I didn't think it would get that cold, that early and I got real lucky!...

wxman

Looks good. Is that treated wood?

wxman

hardyjim wrote:Looks really nice Tim.

you watching the weather up there(over there),
it looks like a 30F in the forecast-a little early for that ********

Thanks.

I should be safe here. I'm 3 miles from Lake Michigan which is still 70 degrees. My average frost date is October 20th.

wxman

Another update. Framing is done. Metal roof over the wood stove room is done. Wood stove is made and installed. All the gravel is laid. Next up is siding, plastic installation and the front door! :) :) http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y255/wxman81/6a6c99d0.jpg http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y255/w...

wxman

wheelman, I plan on running the stove fulltime - yes. Barb, I actually water the cactus bed as much as the tropicals -- sprinklers don't discriminate! The cactus don't seem to mind at all and are growing quite rapidly. I've had this Christmas palm since a seedling in 2009 and yes they seem slow. Sco...

wxman

Took a bunch of pictures this evening. Everything is in its prime and it looks like September could keep some nice weather around for awhile -- so I might get even more growth -- which is outstanding! Hoping for a warm fall that gently leads into a mild winter. The trachy lineup. http://i7.photobuck...

wxman

Enlarged the greenhouse another 8 feet. It's now 18x8. Up to 7 courses of block on the wood stove room. 2 more to go. Progress is being made, albeit slowly.

wxman

I'm working my way up building the block wall. I'll be glad when its over -- I hate masonry. I plan on using a fan to direct the heat through the rest of the greenhouse. Floor will just be gravel with no extra insulation. I'm thinking about bumping it out another 6 feet or so yet for a total size of...

wxman

New pics ... took this quick this morning with my phone. I enlarged the footprint of the greenhouse to 8x12 from 8x10. I'm building a concrete room behind the greenhouse where I will install a Vogelzang barrel wood stove. I have endless free wood from work and plan on using that to keep the greenhou...

PalmsNorth.com

Search found 575 matches

Waggie and Magnolia '24 below' update

Winter greenhouse growing??

Baby Lemon Tree

Zombie weather

Trachy is getting massive / protection pics

Late November palms in Wisconsin

Trachy end of season pictures

Big Wisconsin Labor Day Update!